The measure also includes open-ended questions to obtain additional qualitative information. Problem-related questions allow the respondent to write in additional problems that were not listed in the 99 items and to further describe problems, physical and mental disabilities, and primary concerns about the child. The strengths-based question allows the respondent to describe the best things about the child.

The CBCL is to be completed by the parent/caretaker who spends the most time with the child.

Parents are asked to rate their child for how true each item is now or within the past 6 months using the following scale:

0=not true (as far as you know)

1=somewhat or sometimes true

2=very true or often true of the child (based on the preceding two months)

Information Provided:

Clinician Friendly Output

Other Information Provided:

The CBCL 1.5-5 can be used for: Identifying behaviors/problems interfering with client's functioning, measuring initial behavior severity, tracking changes in emotional, acting out or behavior problems over the course of treatment, and treatment planning. The Language Development Survey (for ages 18-35 months) is also included when you purchase the CBCL 1.5-5.

Parallel/Alternate Forms

Forms for Different Ages: The Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and Teacher Report Form (TRF) have also been normed for children ages 6-18, and the Youth Self-Report is normed for children ages 11-18.

Psychometrics

Norms :

Age Groups

Gender

Notes on Psychometric Norms:

Scales are based upon ratings of 1,728 children and they are normed on a national (U.S.) sample of 700 children.

Notes for Multicultural Norms for Ages 1.5-5:

Based on over 27,000 CBCLs and C-TRFs from 24 societies, the ADM Module for Ages 1.5-5 with Multicultural Options scores problem scales with norms for societies that have relatively low problem scores (Group 1 societies), intermediate scores (Group 2), or high scores (Group 3). Select societies by name or select Group 1, 2, or 3 norms for profiles of syndrome, DSM-oriented, Internalizing, Externalizing, and Total Problems scales.

Reliability:

Type:

Rating

Statistics

Min

Max

Avg

Test-Retest

Pearson

0.68

0.92

0.85

Cross-Informant Agreement

Pearson

0.61

Inter-rater

Parallel/Alternate Forms

References for Reliability:

Extensive research on the psychometrics of the CBCL/1.5-5 has been conducted by the developers.

For more detailed information on this research, refer to the CBCL/1.5-5 manual. Click here to view the chapter on reliability and validity from the CBCL/1.5-5 website.

Population Information

Population Used For Measure Development:

The 1981 sample data used to develop the measure consisted of 20 social competence items and 118 behavior problems. The parents of 1,300 referred children completed the CBCL at intake into outpatient mental health services. Parents of 1,300 randomly selected nonreferred children completed the CBCL in a home interview survey.

Measure has demonstrated evidence of reliability and validity in which populations?:

Physical Abuse

Sexual Abuse

Domestic Violence

Neglect

Pros & Cons/References

Pros:

1) Well researched and widely used.

"...the CBCL has high utility due to its rapid coverage of a wide range of problems in various settings, the inclusion of scales to assess adaptive functioning, recently published cross-cultural normative data, and its extensive use in the research literature. (Dulcan, 2010)

In a study involving 370 children examining the "diagnostic accuracy of the CBCL syndrome AS scales for predicting DSM-IV Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Oppositional Defiant Disorder with or without Conduct Disorder (ODD/CD)", the "Attention Problems syndrom significantly predicted ADHD, and ODD/CD was significantly predicted by the Aggressive Behavior Syndrom. Both scales demonstrated good diagnostic accuracy, as assessed through receiver operating characteristics analyses. Cut-point analyses confirmed the utility of low T-scores, 55 on the respective syndromes, for efficiently discriminating cases from noncases". The authors concluded that the "CBCL syndrome display good diagnostic efficiency for assessing concerning externalizing disorders in children. (Hudziak et al, 2004)

4) Provides information on strengths of the child.

5) Relatively inexpensive to administer and score.

6) Computer-generated reports are available with clinician-friendly feedback.

7) Parallel forms for daycare providers and teachers are available.

8) The form encourages respondents to include detailed information about their child. For example, several items ask for specific examples of behavior and open-ended questions are included.

9) The CBCL 1.5-5 is one of the few measures for early childhood which is included in a system of assessments for children through age 18. This allows for consistency in outcome measurement.

10) "Several problem behavior items in the CBCL system include blanks for respondents to provide specific examples. When interpreting scores, it is important to ensure that the respondent has accurately understood the items..." (Dulcan, 2010)

Cons:

1) "...labels for the CBCL subscales may be misleading. For example, the Aggressive Behavior subscale describes oppositional and defiant behaviors, woth few items describing agression. Scores on the Thought Problems subscale can be affected by various cognitive problems, and scores are not equivalent to a thought disorder. Such problems underscore the need to review a scale's items to ascertain what they really measure." (Dulcan, 2010)

2)"As judged against a semistructured interview, the SDQ was significantly better than the CBCL at detecting inattention and hyperactivity, and at least as good at detecting internalizing and externalizing problems..." (Goodman & Scott, 1998)

3)"...results indicated that the CBCL subscales alone were not adequate screening tools. Specifically, there were numerous amounts of false negatives based on the subscale scores; meaning that many children who were diagnosed witha disorder were shown to have no diagnosis when based solely on the scores of the CBCL..." (Rishel et al., 2005 as cited in Souza, 2008)